4th Ladner Guides experienced a unique camping
experience at Fraser Valley Gleaners in Abbotsford, BC www.fvgleaners.org Fraser Valley Gleaners
Society processes surplus food.
Gleaners recognizes that as Canadians we are blessed with an abundant
food supply, much of which remains unharvested or is deemed unmarketable.
Gleaners brings 'waste' and 'need' together and helps alleviate both. Through the committed efforts of 2,500
volunteer hours per month and financial donors, Gleaners produced more than 5
million servings of soup in 2004. One
million of this was shipped for Tsunami relief. Processing is done in the plant in Abbotsford where produce is
cut, sliced and spread on "baking trays". The trays are put on
dollies and wheeled into an industrial dryer which uses convection heat to dry
the produce. Depending on the type of produce it takes
7-10 hours before the produce is sufficiently dried. Once dry, it is
transferred from the trays into storage barrels. At the end of the season the dehydrated ingredients are mixed,
packaged into sealed bags and packed into 45 gallon barrel, ready for shipment.

Five girls and three leaders from 4th Guides
arrived at Gleaners on Friday evening.
A race ensued to see who could set up their tent first...the 5 girls or
the 3 Guiders...

TaDa! The winners are... Kelsey, Linda, Maya,
Tegan and Chelsea-Rose.

After participating in a compass treasure hunt designed by 3rd
year Guide, Linda, and playing Bioviva, a board (not bored, but fun!) nature
trivia game, we ate a delicious snack of vegetable soup. Guider, Darlene asked the girls "Do you
want a S'more?" The unanimous
reply after 2 or 3 servings of soup was "No, we are full!" That was until the girls discovered it was a
s'more treat not s'more (soup). We
giggled about that misunderstanding!

Kelsey enjoyed her first ever experience sleeping in a tent,
but wished it was a few hours longer.

We began our volunteer service at 8:30 AM scraping a ton of
dehydrated broccoli off the baking trays.

Well, not quite a ton, only 1,200 pounds of broccoli! That's how much fresh broccoli fits into the
industrial dryer. After scraping
broccoli, some of us helped remove the 200 Teflon sheets from the baking trays
to soak them in preparation for cleaning.

Tegan Maya &
Tegan

We shared delicious Girl Guide cookies with the volunteers
at coffee break.. Then we prepared
potatoes for 2 hours. Chelsea-Rose commented, "Wow, my mother does a lot
of work every day when she makes us dinner." The Guiders smiled at Chelsea-Rose's enlightenment.

Chelsea-Rose, Marcia & Kelsey Maya, Linda and Estelle

The girls loved working at Gleaners. It is a place where many ages come together
to make a difference for the world... from 12 year olds to seniors in their
80's. Every hour of volunteer work
produces the equivalent of 140 servings of soup. Each one of us from 4th Guides, produced about 560
servings of soup for a total of 4,480 servings during our 4-hour shift. Wow!
This Gleaners' experience was a wonderful demonstration of making a difference.

Two of the enthusiastic Guides, Maya and Chelsea-Rose plan
to return with their families to volunteer.
Linda, who has been volunteering at Gleaners for 3 years, will continue
volunteering once a month.

Maybe readers would like to try The Okanagan Gleaners in central
BC or the Ontario Gleaners after it opens in 2006...

Mountains of produced, spared from the landfill or rotting
in fields, has been used to feed the hungry. .